Sports
Arsenal need support, love, after Champions League exit – Arteta
Arsenal need support, love, after Champions League exit – Arteta
Mikel Arteta says he has to show his Arsenal side “support and love” after Bayern Munich knocked them out of the Champions League.
Joshua Kimmich’s second-half header in Germany gave Bayern a 1-0 win on the night, and a 3-2 aggregate victory in their quarter-final.
It was a second successive defeat for Arsenal, who lost control of the Premier League title race last Sunday as Aston Villa beat them 2-0.
“I wish I had the right words to say to the players to make them feel better. What I am going to do – and all the coaching staff too – is to be close to the players.” Arteta said.
“I feel so grateful to be the coach and to work with them every single day.”
Arsenal were chasing a first Champions League semi-final spot since 2009, with Arteta accepting his team were inexperienced at this stage of the competition.
This was their first quarter-final appearance since 2010.
“We haven’t played this competition for seven years and we haven’t been in this stage for 14 years,” he said. “There’s a reason for it.
“We want to do everything fast-forward, super-quick, in one season. I think we have the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final because the margins are very small.
“Those margins are coming from something else that maybe we don’t have yet. We have to learn it.
“When you look historically, it took other clubs seven, eight or 10 years to do it. Today, that’s not going to make us feel better that’s for sure.”
The Gunners, who need City to drop points if they are to win the league for the first time since 2003-04, return to Premier League action at Wolves on Saturday.
“What I need to do is stand right next to them and give them support and our love and we have to pick it up because on Saturday we have a big, big game,” said Arteta.
“We are still playing for the Premier League. The Premier League is there and we really want it. We have to show now that we are capable of turning this around.”
Sports
Thiago Silva to leave Chelsea at end of season
Thiago Silva to leave Chelsea at end of season
Chelsea defender Thiago Silva will leave the club at the end of the season.
The Brazilian, who joined the Blues on a free transfer from Paris St-Germain in 2020, has made 151 appearances for the Blues.
He has won three trophies in that time, including the 2020-21 Champions League.
Silva, 39, says his love for the club is “indescribable”.
“Chelsea means a lot to me. I came here with the intention of only staying for a year and it ended up being four years,” he said.
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“It is already hard saying goodbye in the most normal of circumstances but when there is a mutual love, it’s even harder. But once a Blue, always a Blue.”
Silva joined the club when Frank Lampard was manager and has since also played under Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino.
He has made 34 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea this season, including 25 starts in the Premier League.
The former AC Milan centre-back, capped 113 times by Brazil, says he hopes to return to Stamford Bridge in a new role in the future.
“I hope to leave the door open so that in the near future I can return, albeit in another role here,” he said.
Thiago Silva to leave Chelsea at end of season
Sports
Apologise or face legal action, Enoh warns Bash Alli
Apologise or face legal action, Enoh warns Bash Alli
Sports Minister, John Enoh, has told former World Boxing Champion, Bash Alli, to make a public apology within a week for making false claims against his person or face legal action.
Enoh’s statement came in the wake of allegations by Alli in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu that the minister demanded $1m from him in order to endorse his plan to stage what he calls the oldest boxers’ fight in Nigeria.
The video, which went viral after chess master, Tunde Onakoya, recently broke the Guinness World Record for chess marathon, has the 68-year-old boxer said he could have equally put the name of the country on the world map but for certain individuals thwarting his efforts.
In response to the claim, Enoh in a statement titled ‘Bash Alli and his serial blackmail must be confronted and defeated,” warmed the boxer to tender an apology or face legal action.
He said, “I am constrained to speak to the trending video and open petition to the President wherein Bash Alli, a former World Boxing Champion, threw caution and decency to the wind to allege that I demanded the sum of ‘another ‘ $1m from him in order to endorse his plan to stage what he calls the oldest boxers fight in Nigeria.
“When Bash Alli released his video and open letter to the President, with the sole aim to defame and destroy my reputation and integrity, some friends and associates advised that I totally ignore him and his blackmail gambit. They believe that I will validate and bring him to the limelight by responding to Bash Alli and his vile campaign of calumny.
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“After a deep reflection, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that to ignore him will be a profound mistake. My reason for this is twofold. First, the perception in the public domain is that those in the public service are either thieves or kleptomaniacs who mindlessly pillage our Commonwealth. This assumption, no matter how widely held, is not true.
“Despite our challenges as a nation, there are men and women who continue to serve our country with honesty, integrity, and patriotism. I am one of such.”
The minister added that ignoring Alli will further embolden and enable him to continue in his usual trajectory without consequences.
He said, “Bash Alli’s allegation that I demanded ‘another $1m’ as if I had received a first tranche of $1m from him, or perhaps any of my predecessors had done so, is a manufactured lie from the pit of hell. At no point in time did I demand any form of gratification from Bash Alli.”
The minister added that Alli was desperate to meet him upon his resumption in office but he was cautioned by his staff.
He said, “Let me be clear. Bash Alli desperately wanted to meet me in my very early days as Minister of Sports Development when I had hardly settled down on the job.
” In the deluge of his desperate attempts, I decided to meet him against the advice of the ministry staff, who were familiar with his character and antics. Against their advice, I decided to meet him out of respect for his age and based on the open-door policy with which I am currently leading the ministry.
“Bash Alli’s plan to stage his boxing fight in Nigeria has a long history spanning almost two decades. To achieve this personal aspiration, he has deployed all manner of strategies, including naked blackmail and underhand tactics in his desperate effort to arm-twist the Federal Government to spend upwards of $50m to stage his fight.
“Successive Ministers of Sports have rightly told him that his plan to stage this fight is not the responsibility of the government but a business that the private sector should execute.
“In concluding this statement, I sincerely believe that, in spite of our numerous challenges, our country still has a soul. Our humanity will be irretrievably destroyed the day we lose our soul. Bash Alli’s desperate and unprovoked withering attack on me is an attack on decency, honesty, and integrity. The move to clear my name has just started, and there will be no let up until I achieve this sacred mission.
Apologise or face legal action, Enoh warns Bash Alli
Sports
PSG crowned Ligue 1 champions for record 12th time
PSG crowned Ligue 1 champions for record 12th time
Paris Saint-Germain were confirmed as Ligue 1 champions on Sunday without playing after closest challengers Monaco lost 3-2 away to Lyon.
Monaco’s defeat gave PSG an unassailable 12-point lead at the top of the table with three games remaining and means they are champions for a French record-extending 12th time.
PSG could have clinched the title on Saturday with a win at home to struggling Le Havre, but in the end they needed a 95th-minute equaliser to snatch a 3-3 draw.
However, after that game coach Luis Enrique insisted his side had won the league “without any doubt”, as they were 12 points clear with only 12 points left to play for, and also boast a far superior goal difference to that of Monaco.
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The principality club’s loss in Lyon nevertheless makes PSG’s coronation official, and sets them up for Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg away to Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
Monaco had taken the lead inside the opening minute in Lyon thanks to a Wissam Ben Yedder goal, but Alexandre Lacazette equalised for the hosts and Said Benrahma put them ahead before the half-hour mark.
Ben Yedder struck again to bring it back to 2-2, only for substitute Malick Fofana to net a late winner for Lyon, who are still hoping to qualify for Europe.
PSG have won 10 of their 12 titles in the last 12 seasons, a record which goes to show how the Qatari takeover of the club in 2011 has utterly transformed them and the face of French football as a whole.
They are on course for a clean sweep of trophies this season, with the French Cup final against Lyon to come on May 25 and the French Champions Trophy already in the bag.
Luis Enrique’s side are also hoping to see off Dortmund and win through to the final of the Champions League on June 1.
PSG crowned Ligue 1 champions for record 12th time
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